Find out how popular the last name Thurmond is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Thurmond.

Thurmond, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Thurmond surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Thurmond in America

Thurmond is the 5841st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Thurmond surname appeared 5,922 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Thurmond.

We can also compare 2010 data for Thurmond to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Thurmond

The surname Thurmond is of English origin and can be traced back to the early 12th century. It is believed to have derived from the Old English words "þunor" meaning "thunder" and "mund" meaning "protection" or "protector." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who lived near a prominent hill or mound, which offered protection from thunderstorms.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "Thurmund" in the county of Lincolnshire. This entry likely refers to a landowner or a person of some importance in the area during the Norman Conquest.

By the 13th century, variations of the name, such as "Thurmond" and "Thurman," began to appear in various records across England. These included the Hundred Rolls of Bedfordshire in 1273 and the Subsidy Rolls of Staffordshire in 1327.

The surname Thurmond was also associated with several place names in England, including Thurmond in Lancashire and Thurmond Grange in North Yorkshire. These locations may have been named after early bearers of the surname or vice versa.

One of the earliest notable individuals with the surname Thurmond was Sir John Thurmond, who was knighted in 1399 for his service to King Richard II. Another prominent figure was Sir Thomas Thurmond, who served as a member of Parliament for Gloucestershire in the late 15th century.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the surname Thurmond spread to other parts of the British Isles and beyond. In Scotland, there was a notable family of Thurmonds who held lands in Aberdeenshire, including John Thurmond (born around 1550) and his son, Alexander Thurmond (born around 1580).

In the American colonies, the Thurmond surname can be traced back to the late 17th century, with the arrival of several immigrants from England and Scotland. One of the earliest recorded individuals was William Thurmond, who settled in Virginia in 1679.

Other notable individuals with the Thurmond surname include Strom Thurmond (1902-2003), a long-serving United States Senator from South Carolina, and Walter Thurmond (1942-2021), an American boxer who won a gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Thurmond

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Thurmond.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Thurmond was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Thurmond has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Thurmond was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Thurmond, please contact us.

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